This was the first con I’d ever attended for anything, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. I had been on vacation that week in Mountain Home, Idaho and drove back 26 hours straight the day before so I could make the con as our van had broke down stranding us for awhile in Idaho which was not fun! (Read: 104 degrees with no AC…use your imagination!)
There was also a ticket mix up that I had to run down there and straighten out. They had originally sent me tickets to the Star Trek con instead of Xena – oops! When I called they said they would send out the correct ticket. But lo and behold when we arrived home from Idaho it was not waiting for my in my mailbox. Crap! I called the office and got the message that their offices were closed and wouldn’t be open again till Monday…too late! So I jumped into the van and ran down to the Minneapolis Convention Center (we live about 60 miles out of the Cities). Once I got to talk to someone from Creation however, they were very accommodating and the lady I spoke with said not to worry, they would take care of me. I then ended up being double booked into someone else’s seat and we had to go and get that straightened out. I finally ended up in the second row, seat four, so it finally worked out! Whew!
The first thing I did was wander around the dealer’s room checking out stuff I could add to my arsenal of Xenamebelia. I ended up with life-sized cutouts of Xena and Herc standing ready in my computer room waiting to startle any guest who may stay overnight and have to wake up to use the bathroom. I picked up a few other things as well, including a free starter deck of Hercules and Xena trading cards that I got for being willing to learn the H/X Trading Card Game by Wizards of the Coast.
Entering the auditorium, I peeked at the outline of things scheduled. There were musical tributes to most of the main characters including one for Callisto done to the song “Bitch”…which was my favorite. They also showed some blooper reels which were pretty hilarious…there was one with Renee O’Connor being hit in the face with a fish that she had to do a million takes for…poor thing! And of course Lucy crucified singing, “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts…”
They had an auction of Herc/Xena stuff…I put in a bid for a set of clocks but got outbid. They sold 2 chakrams, I think for around $375 or so apiece. ‘Fraid I didn’t have enough cash on me to make a bid on those!
They also had a costume contest, but I’m clueless as to who won that since I had gotten up to wander around some more. Anyone know who did win? Oh I almost forgot that there was also a trivia contest..I didn’t see too much of that since I walked in at that point. There were some really good questions asked, that I do know!
What I really wanted to see was Hudson though. And finally she came out right after the Callisto video (that was later in the afternoon)…alright!
Here’s a little bit of Hudson’s time on stage. Keep in mind that she is very expressive with her body language and her tone of voice which is pretty hard to recreate here.
H = Hudson
AM = Audience Member
(Hudson walks out on stage…lets out big breath after thunderous applause and cheering die down and walks around a bit)
H: “Hi.” (Pause)
AM: “Don’t be shy!”
H: “I’ll try not to be…”! (Lets out another big breath)
H: “Are you having fun?”
H: “I love…this town…I’ve been to a lot of places…and this town’s beautiful…”
AM: “Thank you!”
H: “You’re welcome…I didn’t know it was yours!”
H: “I mean you all have no idea…what it’s like to be here…right now, in my body looking out at all of you going, “okay, entertain us!” (Said in sing-song voice)
H: “Wow…a lot of people!”
H: “You like my dress?” (Cheering)
H: “You wanna talk to me?…So get in a line and talk to me…”
AM: (Shouts something)
H: “No a line…a line…over there…”
AM: (Shouts something)
H: “I hope not…” (Audience awwwws) “Awww that’s sweet….”
AM: “Hi…I’m glad to be here. It’s my anniversary and my husband is your biggest fan and as my anniversary gift to him…he would love it if I could get a picture with you…”
H: (No hesitation) “Absolutely…bring him up!” (Cheering)
H: “While he’s coming around…I’ll answer another question…(to self) Get going…My energy is really low today…”
H: “HAHH!” (Laughter)…”That’s better!”
AM: “Were you satisfied with the way they ended Callisto’s story?”
H: “Of course not!…It shoulda been bigger…It shoulda been all about me!” (Laughter)
(AM comes around for picture…Hudson poses with him…(cheering)
AM: “Think back to all the beautiful places you’ve been in New Zealand and tell everybody which is the most beautiful place that you’ve been there…”
H: “But nobody’s gonna know…”
AM: “I know…I’ve been there!”
H: “Oh you have?…So you wanna know for you!…okay…Piha.”
AM: “North or South Island?…”
H: “It’s the North Island up on the coast..Black beaches…Sunny…Magical…Beautiful…”
AM: “Ok I’ll go there!”
H: “Go there! Piha…”
AM: “Thank you…”
AM: “Hi Hudson. I’m Julie…”
H: “Hi Julie.”
AM: “…And I really enjoy the physical work…the stunts and stuff you do on your show. I’m curious…what kind of stuff you do to stay in shape…”
H: “I’m in great shape?…I have a lot of sex!” (Cheering)
H: (Laughing) “Can’t believe I said that …This is a kid’s show…I’m sorry…” (Slinks across the stage)…”No, I do a lot of Yoga…and bluffing!”
AM: “Hello…”
H: “Hello!”
AM: “Umm…I was wondering, do you know yet when the Priestess Callisto episodes are gonna start filming?”
H: “No I don’t…”
AM: “And uhh…have you gotten anywhere with your Yoga instructor yet?”
H: “Yes I have, thank you!” (Laughter) “You must have been at the last convention!”
AM: “Yeah you said you were gonna eat me…”
H: “I was gonna what?…”
AM: “You said you were gonna eat me for dinner…”
H: “Oh I did, didn’t I?” (Crouches on stage)
H: “That was gentle of me wasn’t it…As I walk away…!”
AM: “Hi…”
AM: “My name is Felicia…Felicia…”
H: “You’re Callisto?”
AM: “My name…my name is Felicia…hi!”
H: “Hi Felicia!”
AM: “Before I ask my question…may I just start off and I think I speak for everyone when I say WE’RE NOT WORTHY! WE’RE NOT WORTHY!”…
H: “Oh I like her!…Thank you…”
AM: “Uhh my question…uhh did you…”
H: “You want some water Felicia?”
AM: “Uh yeah after that…I’m a little parched…”
H: “You can have mine…with my lip-stains on it…I do this for a living…Isn’t this crazy?”
AM: (Holds up cup) “And the opening bid is five hundred dollars…Five hundred once…Okay, my question…uhh okay, being that you are familiar with the whole Raimi brotherly clan…Ted, Sam and the fact that they’re a bunch of jokers including Mr. Campbell…Do you ever get a lot of practical, have you ever got a lot of practical jokes played on you? ‘Cause I can’t imagine what that would be like…I mean mayhem on a daily basis working with such practical jokesters…”
H: “Nobody messes with me!…It’s just not smart…Oh and they’re delightful to work with…they’re so much fun…they’re always fun. Bruce Campbell is one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with because of his antics…It’s just a big playtime. But no, I haven’t had many practical jokes played on me…”
AM: (Shouts, “Aw, but why?”)
H: “I don’t know…I just don’t know…”
AM: What’s the difference working on each show?”
H: “Uhhh…Well besides it being completely different people…I mean ’cause even the crew is different. Hercules is a little bit more old school ’cause it’s been there longer and Xena is younger…and um really pretty crew members…Um…But they’re both really gentle crews altogether for people…More so than Americans, I find.”
AM: “Thank you…”
H: “You’re welcome.”
H: (Sighs) “You guys are all peaceful today, aren’t ya?”
AM: (Shouts) “We’re in awe…”
H: “You’re in awe? No…you’re asleep…someone gave you guys Advil or something…”
AM: “Advil??”
H: “Oh well, Valium, Advil…you know, a pill.” (Laughter) “I’m a blonde, gimme a break!”
AM: “Hi Hudson…”
H: “Hi stranger…” (Laughter)
AM: “I noticed you’ve got alot of internet sites…on the Internet and I was wondering…(Unintelligible)
H: “Did you get that?”
AM: (Shouts, “Internet”)
H: “Internet…OH!” (Laughter) “Oh you mean am I doing things on the internet? No. No, that’s a whole entire universe that I know nothing about…”
AM: “Do you wanna learn?”
H: “NO!…I don’t wanna learn…I like my ignorance…I’m blissful in it.”
AM: “Hi, I’m Kelly. Uh I was wondering if the outfits you were wearing on the show…was that comfortable?
(Laughter)
H: “You guys liked that, huh?”
H: “Um, it wasn’t so bad actually…Lotta kicking room…The arms were hard, got sore with sword stuff and the knees, and yeah it was alright. Freezing in the winter, you can imagine. If…you look closely you can tell what the season is by my belly…I’ll have hot water bottles when we’re not shooting right here…If you look, you can see the outline in red!” (Laughter)
AM: “Thanks!”
H: “You’re welcome.”
AM: “Ok hi…”
H: (Really perky) “Hi!” (She laughs)…
AM: “I wanted to know why you cut your hair…”
H: “I cut it because I no longer wanted to look like a Barbie in this society…”(Cheering)…”I wanted to figure out who I am without other people’s ideas of seeing me and telling me what beautiful is.”
AM: “Ok, thank you!”
AM: “Uh, my name is Vanessa…”
H: “Hi Vanessa…”
AM: “And I was just wondering if you ever like, on the show, if you ever like would want to ever have to like kill Xena or something…Like ever have that happen…?”
H: “Huh? I didn’t…I’m sorry, what?”
AM: “…If you’d ever want to like kill Xena…Instead of not killing her…?”
H: “Darling…the point is for me to kill Xena…”
AM: (Walks away)
H: “Ohhh…Honey…You mean did I ever want to kill Lucy?…That’s an entirely different question…”
AM: “Um, I was just gonna ask, what other plans, TV shows besides Xena…Uh, you’re future, that’s what I wanna know about…”
H: “Um I might be in Mortal Kombat…Um, as for other TV shows there’s some secret, exciting, wonderful things in the works…I feel like I don’t wanna jinx anything so there’s no point in talking about it ’till it’s…final…yeah!”
H: “Did you notice my new muscles?…” (Cheering)
H: “I hear Xena screaming…in the back…why don’t you all do that…no all at once…OK one, two, three!”
(Xena yells from all over…Hudson stares at the audience…laughter…)
H: “Oh no…oh no…”
AM: “My name’s Barb and…”
H: “Hi Barb!”
AM: “How ya doing?”
H: “I’m alright…pretty good…did my meditating and my Yoga this morning…
AM: “One thing…”
H: “Sure…”
AM: “Um what’s it like to be Callisto and will you be back on Xena next year?”
H: “That’s two things. What’s it like to be Callisto…It’s glorious to be Callisto…You can imagine, I mean think about it, you scream, you yell, you spit, you get paid! It”s brilliant! This dress is not brilliant…it keeps hiking up…that is brilliant?…Um, will I be on again? One never knows…as Callisto, I honestly, I, I think I’m done with that personally. I loved doing it…I so appreciate doing it… I, I feel honored to come here and meet with people, I’m really grateful for it…But…I need to move on and do other things as well…I think it’s played out.”
(Applause)
H: “I say that and you clap…”
H: “I love you!…That was my impression of Diana Ross…”
AM: “Hi…”
H: (laughs) “Hi!”…she’s looking at me like I’m weird…you guys paid to see this!”
AM: “It’s just that I’m really nervous…”
H: “Oh you are? You want a hug?”
AM: “No, that’s ok…”
H: “She’s like…noooo…I just want to ask you a question!”
AM: “I had a question then I forgot it…”
H: “That happens!”
AM: “I just want to know what your favorite episode was, that you did.”
H: “When I became a God…I like that…they’re clapping again…”
H: “Hi everybody…” (Audience responds)
AM: “Umm when are you going to sign autographs?”
H: “Ready, isn’t she? Right after we’re done with this…”
AM: “Hi.”
H: “Hi.”
AM: “I have um like a request…”
H: “Uh oh…”
AM: “When you like did the Hercules episode…could you possibly just say, “Hercules, can’t you just die like a good boy!” (Cheering)
H: “Why couldn’t you just die like a good boy!”
AM: What’s your favorite episode, cause I love it when you get so mad…I don’t know what makes you that mad, but I just love it…”
H: “What’s my favorite angry episode?…”
AM: “What’s your favorite episode that you did on Hercules or Xena…”
H: “Well, that one I already answered…That was when I became a God…”
AM: “Okay then what makes you be able to get that angry…”
H: “To get so mad?…A bad childhood…I channel it…”
AM: “Hi…”
H: “Hi!”
AM: “Um I was wondering if you could do your scream for us…” (Cheering)
H: “Oh you look so shy sitting over there…yes I’m looking at you…quit looking around…no no, it’s YOU I’m looking at…He’s getting all red in the face now…”
H: “Okay you guys scream first and I’ll scream second…no no…Some order people..a little bit of order please! I’ll say one, two, three then after that you all scream. But, you have to do it…Even if you don’t feel like it…It feels good! It releases alot of energy…It feels good…You have to do it from your belly…Alright? ALRIGHT?? Ready…one, two three!”
(Everyone screams) *I learned that I can do a pretty good Callisto scream from this little exercise, and yes it must come from your belly and yes, it really does feel good!*
H: “I’m touched…unbelievable…unbelievable…my turn!”
H: “Should I do it without the microphone or with the microphone…What? No microphone? No? Yes? Pansies!”
AM: “One, two three!”
H: “Hey! It’s my stage!”
(She rips loose with her bloodcurdling scream)
(Cheering)
AM: “Now with the microphone!”
H: “Now with the mike? I don’t know if I have it in me…Alright…”
(Hudson screams again)
(More cheering and applause)
H: “It’s like a joke and it’s my life…” (Says laughing)
AM: “And you get paid for it…”
H: “I know…isn’t that brilliant? Alright then, next question!”
AM: “Do you do your own stunts?”
H: “Um, I do all my own fighting…Not true…No, sometimes I don’t do all my own fighting…Mostly I do all my own fighting. As for the um, somersaults and things like that, we have um, acrobatics dressed like this woman in front, that does it for us. And we have uh, horse people…Equestrians…See how intelligent I am?…Equestrians!”
AM: “Ok, I’ve got one question for you…what’s you natural hair color?”
H: “God only knows! (Laughter) I’m sure I’m not the only one out there…!”
AM: “Seriously, can you tell us?” (Laughter)
H: “It’s green.”
AM: “Hi Hudson, I’m from Chicago. My question to you is…You just made the comment a little earlier that my life must be a joke…I wanted to ask you why you think that…”
H: “Why I think that? Woof…therapy time! I meant that in the most positive way actually because I get paid to have a bunch of fun and how lucky am I to have this for a job…”
AM: “I wanted to say you’re an excellent performer. I’ve seen you in Touched By An Angel as well as Xena episodes…you’re great.”
H: “Thank you…”
H: “Hey Ares…”
AM: “Hello. I have to ask a question before a request…anyhow…during the series when you appear as Callisto, who the physical trainer who trained you in the use of the sword and horse-riding.”
H: “Peter Bell…Is the uh stunt man…yes he’s the one who basically…Every time we do, um a fight, we have someone different. Peter’s the um, top of the line…Chain of commander, the General. And then we get others who will come in and teach us how to do it as well. But it…hmmm…I sort of picked it up as I went along…There was no long period of studying…It’s just like dancing on the show…As long as the swords aren’t too heavy for my scrawny little chicken arms!”
AM: “Thank you.”
H: “You’re welcome…”
AM: “Are you and Velaska friends?”
H: “Am I and Velaska friends? I actually went to her wedding…her name is Melinda…Clarke. So yes we are friends. We hung out in the fire pit together…We became like a (something) you know…That’s right…Well, you know who won…it was just a matter of show, so you know who really won…!”
H: “Hi!”
AM: “Hi. Do you think you could um, I wanted to ask you some questions…Do you think you could say…”And everybody died that day?”
H: “Huh?
AM: “And everybody died that day.”
H: “Is that Hercules? And everybody died that day…what was I talking about?”
(Audience shouts answers)
H: “See? Isn’t this incredible? I actually went through it and you guys know it…I’m not sure how I said it but I’ll give it a go…Would you like to do it for us? Are you sure? How generous of you. Very slippery. And everybody died that day!”
H: “You alright there? You breathing? I won’t take much…I’ll pretend like I didn’t even see ya…ok!”
AM: “Do you have any nieces or nephews?”
H: “I do. I have a one year old nephew named Hudson.” (Audience awwws)
H: “AWWWWW!!”
AM: “Hello Miss Leick. My name is Autumn and where are you from?”
H: “Cincinnati, Ohio I was born.”
AM: “Did you have fun doing the musical Xena?”
H: “Did I have fun doing what?”
AM: “The musical Xena…”
H: “Bitter Suite? Oh yeah…I had a lotta fun doing that…I forget about that one cause it’s so far from what I normally do with Callisto…Yeah, the dance number was delightful.”
AM: “Can I hug you?”
H: (Whispers) “Yes you can…Come on, Sweetheart…”
AM: “My name is Kate and I do have a quick question for you…What do you miss most about playing Callisto, or what will you miss most about it?”
AM: (Different one) “A paycheck!”
H: “Paycheck!” (She laughs…audience laughs)
H: “Um…It was an amazing character…It was a really good character for me to play…I learned a lot about myself playing it…I’ll miss that…”
AM: “We’ll miss that too.”
H: “Thank you…”
AM: “Hi Hudson, I’m Bob…”
H: “Hi Bob…”
AM: “I wanted to ask you…I noticed they were showing all the blooper reels and things, and they had only one of you…does that mean you’re perfect?”
H: “It means I don’t make mistakes!” (Laughter)
AM: “That’s what I thought…”
AM: “I was wondering if…you and Xena are really friends when you’re not on the show….”
H: “You know, we live in completely different countries so I don’t see very much of her…but it’s…its, we’re very social when we are working with together.”
AM: “Thank you!”
H: “You’re welcome…”
AM: Hi, I’m Terry (?)…when you, when Callisto became a God, could you say that part when you turned around…”
(Audience shouts…”Here comes trouble!”)
(Laughter)
(Hudson laughs)
H: “Here comes trouble!” (Applause)
AM: “I was wondering how you got the part of Callisto.”
H: “I’m having a flashback to the last convention….Um, I just auditioned for it…it’s not exciting!…sorry…I held a gun to the director’s head and he gave it to me!”
AM: Hi my name is Leslie Ann and I was wondering what it was like being a mean Callisto and working with Renee O’Connor.”
H: “What was it like being a mean Callisto? Great!! Renee O’Connor is a very hard worker…really hard worker. Very focused…um, good to work off of. I didn’t usually work off of Renee. Usually I’m with Lucy so I didn’t have a lot to do with Renee so anytime I was with Renee I tortured her! Not Renee sorry…Gabrielle!”
AM: “I noticed that people on Xena don’t wear much….”
H: “Oh you noticed that! (laughing) Actually it’s there for the intellectual
people…”
AM: “Anyway, I was wondering if while you were shooting if your costume was
suddenly not on you anymore?”
H: “You mean like all of a sudden I just rip it all off? Is this what you guys
imagine all day? Hudson Clothes on….Hudson Clothes off…..Hudson Clothes
on…”
AM: “No, I mean like on the Hercules bloopers, first Kevin had a towel around
him then..well, he didn’t.”
H: “Oh, I missed the bloopers.”
***I ran out of tape and memory at about this point. Several people have remembered this a bit differently (whether it was a friend or a stunt coordinator who was the “thong-buster” (thanks, Mike!)), so this isn’t to be taken as Hudson’s exact quote but is still listed dialogue-type to keep the transcript’s theme.***
AM: “Oh…”
H (the gist of her comment) : “But when I first started portraying Callisto I used to wear a thong under my costume. (Audience laughs) Don’t ask me why, I just did. Then one day I was climbing a ladder and the stunt coordinator (or friend?) pulled me down and said “Hudson that’s not right!” (She laughs) So I stopped. I am being way too honest
with you guys aren’t I?”
And that’s all I have! I don’t believe she was on stage for too much longer. Hope you enjoyed this!
Thanks to Sherry (GoddessCal) for providing me with the last question here in my transcript…she has an amazing memory! Thanks also to those of you who do provide me with feedback…your kind words really make my day.
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